The Carpenter story began 5 years ago when Joey and Jill met and fell in love! We have two children, Mady and Joe Hudson. We are beginning the journey to adopt a baby from South Korea. Join us for the ride!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

These necklaces are made by women in Uganda from recycled paper. These women are able to help provide for their families by making these necklaces. 147 Million Orphans allows adopting families like us sell these necklaces to help fund our adoptions. By clicking the Buy Now button to the right, you can purchase one for $20!
Length may vary a bit as well as the colors (all are multicolored). Limited quantities so you can email me prior to purchasing to determine quantity left.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

I hope your weekend was wonderful. What beautiful weather today! Many times today when I was just so so thankful for moments with my family.

Anywho…. I have not blogged in a bit so I thought I’d see what I could come up with.

1. Not much updates on the adoption process. Just waiting. Praying God will guide us and that we will trust in Him for provision. Adoption is so expensive. I get so caught up in it sometimes that I could lose my mind. How are we going to pay for it? What can we sell? Etc. And then I remember….it’s out of my control. I have to trust in Him. I know He has called us to do this, so I know He will provide.

2. The kiddos are so funny these days. Joe is really starting to talk and it’s hilarious trying to guess what he’s saying. Mady and Joe are starting to play together more and enjoy each other. They chase each other up and down the hallway screaming and laughing. I love watching them play and laugh. Nothing like listening to your kids laugh!

3. Our house is for sale. Somebody please buy it. :) The end.

4. We’re moving- hence, the reason our house is for sale! Joey recently took a principal job in his hometown of Carrollton. We are very excited. This was not planned, but just sort of happened. So, we really need our house to sell in about two months! Joey starts his new job this summer, so we would obviously like to have our house sold before then so he doesn’t have to commute. So, add us to your prayers please. We know God is in control- just have to remind ourselves sometimes.

5. I still have some cute earrings for sale from 147 Million Orphans. I have 8 pairs left. They come in blue, light green, light brown, and clear. $18 (Great Mother’s Day gifts!) As always, a purchase supports our adoption.

6. My sweet nephew got “babatized” (as Mady says it) tonight at church. I was so proud of him. He has such a great heart and LOVES the Lord! And boy, can he pray! Whew! So thankful God has stirred in his heart the desire to know Him as his personal Lord and Savior.

7. Yesterday, April 22nd, marked two years since Joey’s ruptured aneurysm. SO hard to believe it has been two years ago. I am SO THANKFUL for my living, breathing husband to continue in this life with me. I catch myself so many times thinking- I could be raising these kids by myself. I could have been a widow after three years of marriage.

God spared his life and for that I am beyond grateful. I pray we live each day for the glory of God doing His work because none of us know when we will be called home. And when I am called home, I hope I hear the words…. “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Matthew 25:21

Sweet Meaghan and her family are adopting from Ethiopia. They are having a giveaway so head on over to her blog to find out more details and enter! You could win a $25 gift card to Deep South Pout in Starkville!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

I’m still selling items from 147 million orphans. They just got a shipment in of earrings made by Haitian artisans. The earrings are made from broken glass. As always, a purchase from 147 millions orphans supports not only our adoption, but also orphans around the world. If you’re interested in them, let me know. I’m going to place an order today because they go pretty fast. They are $18 and come in 4 different colors.

Monday, April 9, 2012

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter! We sure did! Here are a few snapshots from this weekend- Enjoy!

Love these kiddos! Easter was extra special this year because little Mady really started to understand Jesus dying on the cross. She was able to tell us the story with all the details. So thankful for the opportunity to teach my children about Jesus.

One more thing, I’m posting this video of Francis Chan. I LOVE THIS VIDEO! They showed us this video during revival at our church. A great reminder to live a crazy, radical life for God. I need to be reminded of that daily!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Hip Hip Hooray! I was so excited yesterday when I called our agency to ask them a question. She said they had already reviewed and approved our homestudy! I was of course excited about that, but I thought we also had to complete our I600A application and have our biometric fingerprints done (which could take a month or so) before we would be officially approved and waiting for a referral. So when she then told me we were put on the wait strip with the other waiting families, I WAS PUMPED!!! I just knew it would be a month or longer before we would be considered a waiting family so this was surprising and exciting news for us!

So what this means is….. we are now waiting for Holt to match us with a child. Our program is a little different than some because we are with the Waiting Child Program. They will match us with a child according to what needs we stated we were open to in our homestudy. Not sure how long this will take but I’m sure several months. Once we get a referral and we accept the referral, we will have to wait to travel- which could be up to a year. Let’s pray it wont take that long!

Thanks for following us on this journey. I’m so excited I can hardly stand it! We are one step closer to bringing our little one home.

Please pray for us. Pray for us to wait patiently. God’s timing is perfect. Pray for us to totally trust him with this adoption process. There are lots of unknowns for us but HE KNOWS EVERYTHING.

About Me

I'm a follower of Christ, a wife to a handsome and Godly husband, and a mother to two beautiful, joyful kiddos. I stay at home with the kids most of the time. Some days I do PRN work as a speech therapist.